Walter Olson runs a great, nay, mindblowing blog called overlawyered.com. The name says it all. He’s got great posts on everything from a suit against dolphin trainers (for teaching their dolphins to deliberately splash during a water show, making the area slippery) to a family suing Honda for million because their car window blew out (in a tornado). And here’s one of his latest: 12-year-old’s slide injury to cost Little League $125K by Walter Olson on August 6, 2009 Staten Island, N.Y.: Little League Baseball Inc. and the New Springville Little League have agreed to pay $125,000 to settle…
Author: lskenazy
Hi Readers! Here’s an interesting angle on Free-Ranging, brought to us by Kathy Seal. Kathy is a journalist in Santa Monica and co-author ofPressured Parents, Stressed-out Kids: Dealing With Competition While Raising a Successful Child and Motivated Minds: Raising Children. Her websites are www.kathyseal.net and www.pressuredparents.com. Voila: CAN YOU HELP WITHOUT HELICOPTERING? Ok, I’m gonna say something controversial: You can’t be too involved with your child. You heard me right. Tons of gold-standard research shows that the more you’re involved with your kids –be they toddlers or teens — the better it is for them. And that doesn’t contradict…
Here’s a phenomenal NPR piece — transcribed — that solves the classic overprotection question, “Well, why NOT keep kids inside all the time if it’s safer?” A lot of parents think it was fun back when they played outside as kids, but since that kind of thing presents at least SOME danger (no matter how tiny), why not skip it and replace it with organized sports (they still get fresh air!), educational activities (won’t hurt on those Harvard applications!) or simply keep them at home, indoors? (Better safe than sorry!) The problem is that more and more research is showing…
Dear Readers — Here’s a success story from Plano, Texas! We live about 200 yards from the school. Our block ends across the street from the front of the school. The crossing guard is one street over (on our same block, so no need for kids to cross a street). Yet, every single child on our block either had their parent walk them to school or stood outside their house until they could see their child walk into the school. Even our neighbors with fifth graders did this! Under peer pressure, I did this while my oldest was in kindergarten…
Dear Readers — Here is an extraordinary essay from the Times of London, “We Approach Others’ Children at Our Peril.” It traces how “what began 25 years ago as an understandable desire to raise awareness of child abuse is turning into something extremely distructive — an instinctive suspicion of any encounter between grown-ups and unrelated children.” This fear has lead not only to parents locking their children indoors — as indicated by the statistic in my headline (from England) — it is also changing the very relationship between children and grown-ups. As notes the article, by Jenni Russell, this generation…
Here’s my take on the issue, published in Sunday’s Chicago Tribune. Some of it will sound a little familiar to Free-Range Kids regulars, but it bears repeating: Most of the world’s kids walk to school by themselves starting in 1st grade. But here? Are you kidding? While the majority of us parents walked to school, today only 10 percent to 15 percent of kids do. How come? The usual reason parents give is, “Times have changed,” and that’s true. Surprisingly, they have changed for the better. Nationally, according to U.S. Department of Justice figures, we are back to the…
Note to White House budget chief Peter Orszag: You are completely, dangerously deluded. Not about the economy! (Or maybe you are — I can’t say.) But you definitely are deluded about your job as a parent. And so are a bunch of your buddies. A recent article in The New York Times, “‘Family Friendly’ White House Is Less So for Aides,” featured honcho after hand-wringing honcho bemoaning how hard it is to balance the demands of running the country with being a good mom or dad. Orszag — a guy who is, one hopes, trying to figure out how to…
Dear Abby: I have a problem. I read a supposedly “helpful” advice column yesterday about public bathrooms and whether children are safe from pedophiles if their mom is waiting right outside the door. The piece said no! No way! As a matter of fact, it added, slightly off tangent, “Children have been violated in a matter of seconds in the play areas of fast food restaurants with the parents RIGHT THERE!” Now when I think about McDonald’s “ball room” it has a whole new meaning. Ick. Signed: Newly Scared of Fast Food Playspaces That Seem Too Small For Most Grown…
Super scary predators. Innocent victims. Great ratings. Anyone else get the sneaking suspicion that Shark Week is just a fish version of Nancy Grace?
Hi Free-Rangers! Daniel Bigler, a pre-school teacher/Children’s Studies major in Spokane, Washington — and the blogger behind Danielsaurus.com — has taken it upon himself to find us some inspiring movies. “The premise,” he says, “is simple. Each week we go out in search of a fresh movie either for or about kids that keeps in line with the philosophy of letting our kids have ‘Free-Range’ childhoods. Movies with strong child characters breaking the rules, venturing out on their own, and living life to its fullest.” Feel free to add your own recommendations, caveats, and anything else, below, as we…